The Day After

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year. For me, it was a pretty low key last few days. I went back to the Hayfield area to stay with my parents Saturday through Christmas. It was nice being back and since I was there for four days it almost felt like I was on a school break, like back in the good ol' days.

It didn't necessarily feel totally like Christmas, though. There were actually a lot of reasons that contributed to it, but the biggest was probably that I just didn't get into the Christmas "spirit" this year, no doubt to a combination of December being a very busy month, the dark economic cloud hanging over everyone's heads, and this being the first Christmas in a long time that I've spent single.

Also with my brother, Randy, not being able to be home for Christmas, we didn't really celebrate on the 25th. We decided to celebrate Christmas as a family next weekend when he'll be back home and we can all be together as a family, which is how it should be, and always has been. Of course, some day us boys will have our own families that we'll spend Christmas Day with, but it's not looking like that's going to be a likely scenario for a while yet. It was still very nice to spend time with my mom, dad, and littlest brother, Ryan, especially since I don't see them as much as I'd like to.

Oddly, church also didn't seem very Christmas-y. Sure, not much has changed, but then again, enough has to make it feel unfamiliar, and when you're looking for something familiar, that definitely feels odd. The church I grew up in has now switched hymnals, service pieces, and songs so even though the structure and general components that I know are there, they're all presented differently. And to top it off, on Christmas Eve service there was no "Joy to the World" sung, which has been a tradition since I can remember going to Christmas Eve service. It left the night feeling, well, somewhat unfulfilled. It's odd how just having one song not there can change the feeling associated with an event so much.

Of course, it sounds like I'm just complaining and being a negative nancy, so I don't want everyone thinking I hate Christmas or that Christmas this year sucked--it didn't. It was just different. I couldn't have been happier snowed in with the 'rents during the whiteout that we had on Sunday (we seriously couldn't see across the yard at times), watching football, napping, catching up, and simply taking time to decompress from our hectic everyday lives. It's not often that we do get a whole day to kick back, turn our brains on low, and indulge ourselves in a little old fashioned sloth.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, no matter how you spent it. It hasn't been Christmas for me yet. We'll be having it a week late. Who said you had to celebrate Christmas only on the 25th? Not me.